THIS WEEKENDIn what has to be considered the second upset in the last three
weeks, the Warner Bros. talking animal adventure Cats
& Dogs took the checkered flag at the box office, out dueling
Miramax's ghostly comedy spoof Scary Movie 2.

Showing that the world just can't get enough
of animals that can talk, Cats & Dogs
opened strong this weekend with $21.7M, according to final
studio figures. Having debuted on Wednesday, Cats
has a total gross over five days of $35.8M. Averaging a top
10 best of $7,141 per theater, Cats opened
stronger over the long weekend than the last talking animal picture Dr.
Dolittle 2 which bowed just 2 weeks ago to a $25M opening. Climbing
21% from Friday-to-Saturday, Cats has
a promising future ahead. With no other films aimed directly at kids due
for release until August, Cats & Dogs
should be able to cross the $100M mark with ease.

In second place this weekend was the Wayans
brothers' second trip to spoof-land, Scary Movie
2. Opening almost exactly a year after the original, Scary
scared up $20.5M over the three-day weekend, and $34M since
its opening on Wednesday. Playing in 3,220 sites, the R-rated comedy averaged
a solid $6,368 per theater. Last year the first Scary
Movie opened with $42.3M over a normal three-day weekend, on
its way to a $157M domestic total. With a Friday-to-Saturday increase of
only 4% the sequel is going to be hard pressed to reach the heights of
the original.

Last week's number one, A.I.:
Artificial Intelligence slipped two spots to number three this
weekend with $14M. Slipping an alarming 52% from last weekend, A.I.'s
total gross now stands at $59.6M. By comparison, Steven Spielberg's Academy
Award-winning Saving Private Ryan had
$73.4M in the bank over its first ten days. While A.I.
may be able to reach the $100M mark, it still has to be considered a disappointment
for a film with two highly acclaimed names like Spielberg and Kubrick attached
to it. The film, which cost a reported $100M to make, has apparently scared
away moviegoers with a darker than expected story line.

Debuting in fourth place this weekend was
the Jet Li/Bridget Fonda action-adventure pic Kiss
of the Dragon. Kicking up the second highest average ($6,570
from 2,025 theaters) in the top ten, Dragon opened
with $13.3M this weekend. Li's last project, Romeo
Must Die opened in March of last year with $18M on its way to
a $56M total. Dragon looks to end up
in the $50-60M range as well.

Rounding out the top five this weekend was
the surprise hit of the summer, The Fast and the
Furious. Racing to the tune of $12.3M this weekend, Furious
crossed the $100M mark on Sunday, becoming the seventh film this year to
do so. With a reported negative cost of only $38M, Universal's Vin Diesel
film has become one of the most profitable films so far this year. Its
total gross now stands at $101.4M.

Outside of the top five, Dr.
Dolittle 2 suffered slightly at the hands of the other talking
animal picture, and barked up another $10.5M this weekend, bringing its
cume to $71.9M. Angelina Jolie's Lara Croft: Tomb
Raider came in seventh with $6.7M, bringing its total to $115.5M.
In eighth place was everyone's favorite ogre, Shrek
which took in $6M. Dropping a top ten low of only 22% from last weekend,
the DreamWorks animated wonder's total now stands at a fairy tale like
$240.6M.

In ninth place is the Disney animated adventure
Atlantis, which grabbed another $5.1M
over the weekend. Its cume now stands at $69.4M. And rounding out the top
ten was the John Singleton helmed Baby Boy.
Dropping 44% from last week Boy picked
up $4.8M, bringing its total to $20.8M.

Three films dropped out of the top ten over
the weekend. Buena Vista's teen romance Crazy/Beautiful
slipped just 22% to $3.7M and seems headed for a $21-24M final. The distributor's
summer tentpole pic Pearl Harbor slid
31% to $3.2M in its seventh weekend. The Jerry Bruckheimer flick has grossed
$186.6M and should reach $195-200M. John Travolta's action thriller Swordfish
fell 51% to $2.1M for a $65.7M cume on its way to about $70M.

The top ten films grossed
$114.9M which was down 13% from last year when Scary
Movie opened in the top spot with $42.3M;
but up 12% from 1999 when American Pie
debuted at number one with $18.7M.

Compared to projections, Scary
Movie 2 came in around half of what I predicted, while Cats
& Dogs and Kiss of the Dragon
came fairly close to what I projected.

For reviews of Scary
Movie 2, A.I. : Artificial Intelligence
and The Fast and the Furious, visit
The
Chief Report.

Take this week's NEW Reader
Surveyon which of next weekend's three new movies will open
best. In last week's survey, readers were asked if
Pearl Harbor would cross $200M
domestically. Of 5,412 responses, 44% said yes while 56% thought no. Read
the Weekly Rewindcolumn
which looks back at June 1993.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for
a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Final
Fantasy : The Spirits Within, Legally
Blonde, and The Score all
open.

This column is updated three times each week
: Thursday (upcoming weekend's summary),
Sunday (post-weekend analysis with
estimates), and Monday night (actuals).
Source : Exhibitor Relations,
EDI. Opinions expressed in this column
are those solely of the author.